Books about identity offer a lens through which the reader can explore issues of race, sexuality, gender, nationality and culture.
Dima Alzayat is a Syrian author with a PhD in Creative Writing. Her latest book, Alligator and Other Stories, has been longlisted for the 2021 Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize. In it, Alzayat explores what it means to be the ‘other’; the woman, the Syrian, the Arab, the immigrant. Here, Alzayat tells us her top books for exploring identity and belonging.
The Angel of History by Rabih Alameddine
Alameddine is the master of interrogating identity – how it’s made for us and how we attempt to make it for ourselves. This intelligent, funny, and creatively daring novel juggles race, gender, religion, sexuality and culture. It’s heartbreaking and heartmending.
The Arab Apocalypse by Etel Adnan
This book-length poem is a work of visual and literary art. Its subject is the Lebanese Civil War, a conflict in which identity meant life or death for many. The speaker, unmarked by sect or nationality, continuously shifts perspectives, reminding us that identity is fluid and can divide and unite.
The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka
This novel is told from the point ofn view of Japanese ‘picture brides’ who journeyed to the US in the early 20th century. Otsuka uses the plural first person ‘we’ to tell their stories. What results is a powerful collective testimony that still honours individual experiences.
Don’t Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
Rankine brilliantly investigates complex identity subjects – like race, gender and class – while creating an interactive reading experience that challenges assumptions. The text is punctuated by photographic television stills, highlighting the media’s role in perpetuating stereotypes.
